Essex Valley Irrigation Project at 90 Per Cent Completion

Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Essex Valley irrigation project in St. Elizabeth is at 90 per cent completion.

“We’re in the final stretch. We’ve laid all the pipelines, upgraded road networks, and cleared areas for housing and related infrastructure.

“The last stage is the installation of the pumps. Four of the six pumps are in place, and the contractor will begin installing the remaining units. We anticipate the Essex Valley project to be up and running by December or early January at the latest,” he said.

Minister Green was giving an update on the Essex Valley Agricultural Development Programme (EVADP) while addressing the Ministry’s Strategic Planning Retreat on September 25 at the Oceans Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny.

A large-scale agricultural and rural development initiative, the Essex Valley programme involves the development of irrigation, cold storage and farm road infrastructure to benefit farmers in St. Elizabeth and Manchester.

It integrates water pumping and distribution, modern cold storage and agro-processing facilities, and improved infrastructure to create a more resilient and efficient agricultural sector.

The irrigation aspect is expected to assist in achieving food security by increasing the area under formal irrigation by 50 per cent and the yield of crops in Essex Valley to at least 90 per cent.

This is being done through the construction of wells and the development of associated agricultural infrastructure in the arable region.

As it relates to the cold-storage and agro-processing facility, the Minister informed that the infrastructure has been completed, with a launch planned for the next three to four weeks.

Spanning 24,500 square feet, with the capacity to hold 22 containers of food, the facility is one of the largest in the Caribbean.

“This $300-million investment is the largest cold-storage and agro-processing installation the Government has built in 25 years,” the Minister noted.

Mr. Green said that the Government is fully committed to completing the broader Essex Valley development by 2026, with ongoing investments in irrigation, infrastructure, and storage to sustain agricultural growth and stabilise rural livelihoods.

“It’s about building climate resilience and food security for Jamaica. Food sovereignty… the ability to protect our food and food production… to feed our people is very important,” he said.